Géri

Henri Ghion

(23 March 1934 - 3 February 2015, Belgium)

Mr Magellan

Henri Ghion, later known as Géri, was a Belgian comic book artist born in Anderlecht, near Brussels. He had his first job at a printing firm and at the age of sixteen, he became an apprentice of Raymond Reding, the artist of 'Jari'. During this apprenticeship, he also made his first illustrations for advertisements. In 1953, he was hired by Studio Hergé as a colorist and artist of backgrounds for the 'Tintin' stories. He became a regular artist of covers, illustrations and short stories for Tintin after fulfilling his military service. He was also a productive artist for PubliArt, the ad agency of Tintin's publisher Le Lombard.

Skblllz

In 1962, he created the kangaroo 'Pif' in the pages of Junior, the supplement of Chez Nous that published a lot of material from Tintin. The character was later renamed to 'Baf' and continued in Tintin. In 1966, he replaced 'Baf' by the more absurd comic about a strange animal, the 'Skblllz'.

In addition, he drew 'Picratt' in Pilote, a series of humorous stories scripted by Jacques Acar. Géri is however best-known for his series 'Mr Magellan', that made its first appearance in Tintin in 1969. The first two stories were written by Jean Van Hamme, who was then succeeded by André-Paul Dûchateau. In 1980, he illustrated his final comic, 'Lady Black face au diable', in Tintin. He left the comics field due to a paralysis of his right hand although in later years, he learned himself how to paint with his left hand. Henri Ghion passed away on 3 February 2015.